


Sunflowers in the Moonlight

by silentlylo



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, M/M, Science Fiction, Time - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-10
Updated: 2015-08-10
Packaged: 2018-04-13 21:44:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 17,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4538496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silentlylo/pseuds/silentlylo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Staring at Liam’s smile seemed like trying to take in a garden show at night, with muted colors and only an idea of their true beauty. Louis supposed that if Liam had been born a flower, he’d have been a sunflower, and Louis stared at him as the moonlight shed a soft glow over Liam’s expectant face.</i>
</p><p>A story in which Liam can manipulate time, but he's lonely and will risk revealing his powers to find someone like him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally this was going to be a Het story, since that's all that I tend to write, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it worked better as a Lilo slash. The story is inspired by the lyrics of "You and I." There's nothing gratuitous in here. Just two lonely souls looking for someone they can relate to.
> 
> Many thanks to [M](http://parchedforpaynis.tumblr.com/) and [cmdf](http://archiveofourown.org/users/cmdf/pseuds/cmdf) for their beta skills and support!

_I figured it out  
I figured it out from black and white_

Liam inspected the fire-damaged stone walls of the fortress, his finger encountering resistance over the unburnt patches, but smoothness over the blackened rock. He thought it beautiful, in the way that time captured a fleeting moment of the castle’s history, left it imprinted on its very walls to be examined or forgotten at will. He had always thought of fire as an elemental manifestation of time, and it scared him as much as it fascinated him.

“That was discovered after the plaster was removed,” Niall said. The boyish blond with a confident stride, even with an apparent subtle limp, had come highly recommended to Liam when he had inquired with the National Register of Historic Places about taking a tour of the property.

“Do they know what caused it?” Liam asked. He looked up at the height of the wall to admire how high the flames had scaled.

“They think a curtain hanging from that window caught on fire,” Niall said as he pointed toward the large arched French window adjacent to the wall. “But there are no records to confirm it. They’re doing research on it though.”

They moved about, room from room, and Liam took in each detail, not sure where he would find what he searched for, and not wanting to risk missing it.

“So what is it that you’re doing research for again?” Niall asked.

They had stepped outside and Liam walked backwards, attempting a full view of the unfinished castle that sat on a green field in front of a backdrop of lush green mountains that now turned purple as the sun began its descent.

“A piece I’m working on,” he reminded the tour guide.

“Right, your art. That’s cool that you art,” Niall said.

Liam smiled at him then focused again on the structure and how the roof seemed to mimic the mountain peaks behind it. He wondered if it had been intentional on the architect’s part and asked Niall if he knew.

“Um, no one’s ever pointed that out.” Niall stepped closer to Liam as if to get the same view and stared at the arrangement of mountains behind the castle. “Weird, never noticed that before. I’ll ask and email you the answer. But they probably don’t know yet either.”

“It sounds like you guys have a ton of research to do,” Liam observed and hoped he hadn’t offended.

Niall nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, this place wasn’t registered with us until recently, and the family didn’t leave much info behind for us to look at.”

“You can’t contact them or anything?”

“Well not really. Most of them are dead. Well all of them except the one guy. But he’s not helpful.”  
Liam’s attention turned to Niall as he tried to understand what he meant by that.

“Well if they all died, who registered the place with you guys?”

“The one guy who’s not helpful,” Niall stated. “The home was left to him. Everything was left to him. But he didn’t want it so he gave it to us and said he didn’t care what we did with it.”

“How did his family die exactly?” Liam ventured.

“His parents had died in a car accident when he was young, so it was just him and his grandparents living here. They died of old age. Well one died of old age, and the other died suddenly a few days after.”

“Aunts and uncles?”

“Not much family. They’ve all died throughout the years. It was really the grandparents and the one guy left.”

The thought hurt Liam, both in that he felt sorry for the only family member left, and also in the empathetic way he could relate. He had lost his own parents as well at a young age, and he had no real connection with any other members of their respective families.

He thanked Niall for the walk-through and shook his hand after they agreed on a time to meet the next day. 

It took him five hours to return to the city, though it would have taken him six had he not cheated a bit, and he picked up a late dinner at the pizza-by-the-slice hole-in-the-wall that sat at the bottom corner of the building he lived in.

“Good evening, Mr. Payne,” the doorman said as he held the glass door open for Liam, and Liam smiled and wished him a good evening back, as he always did.

He took the elevator up to his penthouse suite and found his best friend Harry frowning with his arms crossed and waiting for him.

“I know what you did,” Harry said.

“Cheer up, man, I got us pizza,” Liam said, handing him the box and placing it to his chest to force Harry to unfold his arms and grab it before it fell to the floor.

“Liam, pizza does not make up for breaking the rules.”

Liam walked to the fridge and looked at the beer selection.

“What did we decide was a perfect pairing for pepperoni and sausage?” Liam asked Harry. “Was it the Sam Adams or was it this weird IPA you stole from that party we went to?”

“Do not distract me with the greatest IPA in a one-thousand-mile radius. This is serious.”

“I take pairings very seriously.”

“Liam…”

He grabbed two IPAs and closed the refrigerator door, handing one to Harry and taking a drink of his own beer as he leaned against the light granite kitchen counter.

“Okay, I shaved off an hour of my commute home. So sue me.”

“I don’t care about that,” Harry said, “Although it’s stupid, but whatever. What I care about is you putting yourself in dangerous situations to look for something that doesn’t exist.”

“Why doesn’t it exist?” Liam said, and wished he hadn’t sounded a slight bit whiny.

“Because it just doesn’t,” Harry said, his frustrated shoulders rising and falling before he decided to tackle his own beer.

“It has to exist. Come on, man. I can’t be the only person like this in the world. There has to be another me. And if there’s another me, then they’re probably thinking there’s another them, and the best thing to do in that situation is leave a clue that only they would get.”

“Which is dangerous,” Harry pressed on. “There are people out there who are trying to find you and kill you. You don’t go around leaving clues when those are exactly the types of clues that the people who want you dead would look for. Why are you so smart until it comes to this one thing?”

“Because I’m lonely,” Liam said, and he regretted the honesty the moment his friend’s face fell in disappointment. “Not like that,” Liam tried to cover, but Harry shook his head and put his hand up.

“Don’t. I get it. You don’t have to apologize. But man, you’re going to end up dead if you don’t let this go. And then I’ll be the lonely one and you’ll feel guilty about it in your grave. I promise you. I will haunt you. I’m going to be alive and haunting your dead ass.”

“That sounds backwards but okay,” Liam conceded, and he grabbed a slice of pizza as the clock struck midnight.

The clock made up a circular window, so large that it afforded Liam a breathless view of the entire city. The space had originally been a workroom for the technicians of the building, but when the building had been renovated, the owner took a chance on redesigning the space into a luxury penthouse, betting that there would be at least one quirky individual in the world who would pay a fortune to live at the top of a modern day clock tower.

When Liam had first seen the space, he knew it belonged to him, and he had outpriced the nearest bidder tenfold. The space retained its open plan, and Liam filled it, not with furniture, but with canvases and easels and a paint-splattered futon that faced the clock window.

Liam used that futon more than any other piece of furniture in his penthouse – even his bed. He sat in it now, with his slices of pizza and beer, and Harry sat beside him, both of them lost for a moment in thought before Harry broke the silence.

“You’re going back tomorrow aren’t you?”

“I have to see if it worked,” Liam replied.

“Well I’ll go with you then. Just in case.”

Liam knew protesting would accomplish nothing, so instead he looked out the clock window and drifted off into fantasies about someone like him finding his clue and smiling with the knowledge that he or she was not alone.


	2. Chapter 2

_Seconds and hours  
Maybe they had to take some time_

Louis hated seeing his family’s property – or what was once his family’s property – and went out of his way to make sure he never drove anywhere near it. But at times he had to make exceptions. 

He snuck into the castle he had grown up in, the light of the full moon guiding his path as he cracked open the window that the groundskeepers had never figured out how to lock. He slid in, his small frame used to the act having done it countless times even as he had lived there, and he dusted himself off before navigating the dark hallways with his senses, finding his way back to the front.

The grandfather clock in the foyer struck midnight, and as the chimes went off, Louis opened the front door, his visitor looking startled by the sudden noises.

Before the visitor could flee, Louis invited him in, and took his time shutting the door, unnerving the visitor further.

“They said you don’t like people to be late. I’m not late,” the visitor said.

“There’s nothing I hate more than waiting,” Louis confirmed.

Waiting felt like death to him.

The clock struck its final bell and Louis led the visitor into the adjacent grand room with windows so large that the moonlight flooded the space and illuminated both men.

“I brought you the money,” the visitor said, handing a duffel bag out to Louis.

“Set it on the table and open it,” Louis told him.

He watched as the man did as instructed, and gauged the amount to be accurate by the quantity of bills that showed themselves.

“It’s all there,” the man said. “All $50,000 of it.”

“I gave you a discount.”

“I know. I was told. I can’t thank you enough.”

“I like to do favors for my friends,” Louis explained, but it was a lie. He had no friends and he knew this man had probably been warned about it. “What is it that I can do for you?”

“My son. He’s four years old and the doctor’s say he doesn’t have much time left. He’s been sick for so long, but I was told you can give him more time. Please. Save our son. Even if for just another month. My wife and I… he’s our only child.”

“If a person doesn’t have much time left, then there’s no changing that.”

“They say you can change it.”

“I can’t give someone a longer life. Someone lied to you.”

“My wife and I can sell our home and give you more money. Please. We’ll get you the full amount you normally take.”

“It doesn’t change things. Do you want another month of seeing your son sick? It’s a bit selfish don’t you think?”

“If he had more time, he could beat this disease.”

Louis wished he could feel bad for the man, but instead he felt disappointed by his request. He liked his normal requests better. The ones that involved ruining insufferable people’s lives instead.

“Did the doctors say that?” Louis asked him.

“They started the experimental trials too late. They couldn’t get approved for it, and by the time they did, my son was already close to the end. Please. He’s only four.”

Louis looked out the window at the moonlight that always seemed to have answers when he needed them most. Giving false hope made him cringe, but the man had paid and Louis never walked away from free money.

“I’ll give him a month. The rest is up to your kid.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much,” the man said dropping to his knees. “Thank you, oh my God, thank you.”

“Get up and just give me the information I need. Hospital name, room number, the usual,” Louis told him. Groveling never interested him either.

Once he had all the information he needed, he waited for the man to leave, gathering the bag of money and removing his car keys from his pocket.

The clock struck one.

Louis paused in his movements and narrowed his eyes, certain he had hallucinated the sound. They had only been in discussion for a few moments, certainly an hour hadn’t passed by. In fact, Louis knew an hour hadn’t passed.

He hurried to the foyer and looked at the clock, the visual confirmation of the time startling him.

Louis opened the door and looked up at the night sky, assessing the moon’s position and whether it had descended an hour’s worth in height. It had, and Louis slammed the door shut, unnerved.

He had been keeping an eye on the moon, communicating with it throughout the night, and not once had anything seemed out of order. There had to be an explanation.

He placed the bag and his keys down and took out his phone, using the flashlight on it to inspect the clock.

Internally, he guessed the time to truly be 12:35. Louis concentrated on the hands of the clock, placing his hand on his stomach as he always did out of habit when manipulating the seconds and minutes of a day. His energy connected with the plane of existence where time lived and he nudged it to return to its normal time, but his efforts were impeded by a shift of energy that caused him to stumble back a few steps.

“What the…” Louis said, removing his hand from his stomach and scratching his limp brown hair in confusion.

His heart beat raced, with fear that he had lost his power, though part of him felt elated at the idea. He hated having the power of time manipulation. It made him weird, and made it impossible for him to lead a normal life or form any meaningful relationships with anyone whose life he could put in danger.

It had been harder in his youth, before he had learned to control the “gift” that his grandparents explained to him had been passed down the family through many generations. As he got older, he learned to control it, but then he learned that the Department of Time Management wanted to kill him, leaving him to live a life in the shadows.

But now there had been a breach in his own territory, and he suspected that the Department was on to him and his whereabouts.

He grabbed the bag and his keys again and darted out of the house, hyper-aware of his surroundings as he ran back to his car to a chorus of crickets and rustling trees.

Louis hesitated before turning his car on, wondering if a bomb had been affixed to his engine. After a deep breath, he turned the ignition, and when no bomb blew him and his car to pieces, he sped away.


	3. Chapter 3

_I know how it goes  
I know how it goes from wrong and right_

Liam had to leave before dawn to make it to the castle in time. Harry slept in the car and Liam tried not to take any time shortcuts, but his anxiousness caused him to cheat here and there, having them arrive at the home just as the sun illuminated the green mountains and the sharp angles of the roof.

He paused, standing in the rays and taking in the energy that he would need to handle either the excitement of his experiment or the expected disappointment. He had barely slept, thinking and wishing and hoping that his research had paid off and that this house would give him what he both needed and wanted.

“You cheated,” Harry yawned and slapped Liam on the head.

A golf cart rode over to them and Liam made out Niall’s blond hair, cheery smile, and hand up in the form of a wave.

“He’s cute,” Harry said. “You didn’t mention that. Did you not notice?”

“I wasn’t really paying attention,” Liam shrugged. He supposed the guy was attractive, if not a little too young-looking for his tastes.

“I’m worried about you.”

“Shut up,” Liam said, waving at Niall and nodding at him as he stepped out of the golf cart.

“You guys beat me here,” Niall stated. “You must have made really good time.”

“We left super early,” Liam said.

“I’m Harry,” Harry introduced himself, reaching out to shake Niall’s hand.

“Nice to meet you, Harry. I’m Niall,” the tour guide said, shaking his hand with a toothy grin.

“He’s my roommate,” Liam explained. “He wanted to see the place too. If you don’t mind.”

“The more the merrier,” Niall said. “Is there any part you want to concentrate on today, or would you like to see some of the gardens?”

“Um, I’d like to check out the front part again. I liked that entrance,” Liam stated, and Niall led the way, Harry nudging Liam as they walked.

Liam gave his friend a look and Harry smiled and wiggled his eyebrows. Liam rolled his eyes.

“So are you an artist too?” Niall asked Harry, once they had stepped inside the foyer.

“No, I’m a baker.”

“A…a what?” Niall asked, his smile contorted as if not sure if he should laugh at a joke or not.

“I bake. Bread mostly, but I have won numerous awards for my cake creations.”

“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever met a real baker before,” Niall said. “Like, outside of the people who make cakes at grocery stores I guess.”

“I once worked at a grocery store,” Harry confirmed, leading Niall toward another room as they got caught up in conversation with each other.

Liam shook his head amused, then turned his attention to the clock he had manipulated the day before. He had perfected his time-manipulation method to be subtle, not noticeable by anyone standing around him, except for anyone who may think it strange that he’d be standing still while playing with the watch his father had left him.

He loved the feel of the cool metal of the watch, and it calmed him, allowing him the correct breath and pacing to connect with the time plane.

Liam had already prepared himself emotionally for the disappointment of once again not finding sign of another like him, and he began his mental mantra of telling himself it was okay, that it’d be fine, that he’d just do more research and try again.

Then he felt it. An imprint in this time location that did not match his. He had to double check, pursing his lips as he concentrated and shifted his own energy to make more room for the intruder to reveal itself.

Liam’s own time imprint always glowed yellow and warm, pulsating with vibrations that emulated the sun’s life stream. The other imprint had more of a soft white glow, as if it could illuminate dark paths. It fascinated him, and he smiled.

He found someone like him. He wanted to meet this person. He wanted them to be best friends.   
He wanted to go on time-adjusting adventures where they could help the world. His hopes elevated higher and higher with each thought.

The sound of Harry clearing his throat interrupted him, and Liam turned in time to see the two men walk back into the foyer.

“I was just thinking,” Liam said, looking at Niall, “Who watches this place at night? Or do you guys not have the staff for that yet?”

“Yeah, we haven’t really had the need yet. We have a security guard who drives by and makes sure everything’s alright. We are hoping to set up a security camera system at least, but we haven’t been approved for funding on that yet.”

“Gotta love the government,” Harry commented.

Niall shrugged, but nodded his head in agreement.

“So is that security guard the only person who has access to this place at night?” Liam tried.

“Well anyone with access to the key would be able to get in. But at night we lock it in a safe, so if someone wanted to get in, they’d have to know the code for the safe.”

“Have you ever found anyone trespassing at night?” Harry asked, probably sensing the reason for Liam’s questions and helping him out.

“Uh, not that I know of. Why? Are you guys hoping to get in at night? I could just let you in at night if you wanted to do research of how it looks then.”

“Yeah, but where’s the fun in that?” Harry said with a smirk.

Niall smiled wide.

Liam blurted out, “I think someone snuck in last night.”

Harry’s eyes flew wide as he gave Liam a look.

“Why do you think that?” Niall said, looking toward the door as if it might be broken.

“I’ve noticed some discrepancies. Sorry, I’m really anal that way.”

“No, no, tell me. What’s different?” Niall said, stepping over toward Liam.

“I spent a lot of time looking at this clock, thinking it could be a centerpiece for my next work. I took in how this vase sat beside it, the angle of the painting, trying to build the perfect memory of it in my mind, and today it doesn’t match. The vase has been turned, but not just turned. It almost looks as if someone knocked it over then tried to put it back on this table. And that painting is skewed to the side a bit.”

Niall looked at each detail as Liam explained, and the tour guide’s blue eyes became narrower and narrower as his bushy eyebrows spiked downward.

“Holy shit,” Niall said. “I can’t believe someone broke in here. How did they get in? The door was locked until I just opened it right now.”

“Well it’s a big place,” Harry offered, “Maybe they got in a different way.”

“That’s creepy,” Niall said. He shook his head to himself. “We can go back to the office in the golf cart and look at our security feed.”

“I thought you said you didn’t have a security camera system?” Harry pointed out.

Niall sighed.

“We don’t, which is why we’re using my boss’s camera-surveillance hack,” he said, pointing up to a solitary camera, duct taped to the side of the wall. “Don’t make fun. We didn’t really ever think we’d need to use it.”

Liam bit his lip to keep from laughing, but the excitement within him made it hard to keep a straight face. He now could see who his long lost future best friend could be, and he tried hard to not run to the golf cart.

Their office lived inside a small house set on the edge of the property, a guest house, as Niall explained to them when they went inside. He said hello to the other person working in there, a young woman with a big smile and music playing from her computer.

Niall sat at the desk beside hers and motioned for Liam and Harry to gather around as he pulled up the security feed.

“Alright, let’s rewind and see what we can find,” Niall said as he pressed a button. 

Liam watched the time lapse in the top hand corner, even as the scene itself remained motionless. It felt draining to watch nothing happen, and Liam’s impatience made his body react, as he swayed from side to side and tapped his foot to the beat of the ticking seconds that passed..

Harry reached over and placed a hand on Liam’s shoulder to help keep him still.

“Oh shit, there’s someone there,” Niall said as he stopped rewinding.

Liam leaned in over Niall’s shoulder to take a closer look, and he made out a man with a slight build staring at the clock, then stumbling back before collecting his things and darting out of view.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Niall said.

“Do you know who it is?” Harry asked him.

“Yeah,” Niall said, “He’s the guy this house was left to. The one that wanted nothing to do with it. Except I guess when he wants to come over in the middle of the night to grab some things and run out the door. What a weirdo.”

“Where does he live now?” Liam asked.

“Beats me,” Niall shrugged. “He didn’t leave us any way of contacting him.”

“I need to talk to him,” Liam said, and both Niall and Harry stared at him. “I mean that, he grew up in this home. I need the insight. There has to be a way to get in touch with him.”

“Trust me. He’s not gonna want to talk to you about this home.”

“I still want to try.”

“Yeah, but, I mean, we really don’t know where to find him,” Niall explained. “You’ll probably just have to wait for him to come back and take something else.”

Liam looked at Harry who seemed to be trying to tell him something by the negative shaking of his head.

“You said this was a guest house right?” Liam asked.

Harry hung his head in his hand.


	4. Chapter 4

_Silence and sound  
Did they ever hold each other tight like us  
Did they ever fight like us_

Louis woke up beside a warm body, and he tried to remember his name. Zeke or Zac or Zed or something. At least he thought it started with a Z.

He looked out the window of the cramped room and figured it to be around two in the afternoon. He groaned, hating waking up with so much daylight left in the day.

Louis used Z-boy’s bathroom then left, heading east on the street until he felt far enough away from last night’s mistake to avoid any awkward run-in.

Stepping into a diner, Louis took a seat in a booth and ordered a coffee and pancakes. Then he put his head down on the table and napped until the waitress had brought it out for him.

His job at the hospital had been difficult. Not entering and sneaking his way into the young boy’s room, but standing there, staring at him, and fighting the urge to end the boy’s suffering instead of elongating it. Sometimes Louis felt that Death and Time weren’t mutually exclusive.

Nobody paid Louis for moral judgement, however, so he had given the boy the extra month his father had paid for, and then he had left the hospital and found his way to the bar to drown out the guilt of having done it.

His mind wandered as he ate his pancakes, and his thoughts drifted again to his home and the odd time discrepancy he had found in it. He wondered how they had found him. Maybe one of his clients had been an undercover and had ratted him out at some point. He knew he could trust no one, but he hadn’t thought he had made any terrible missteps.

He wanted to go back. He knew how stupid the action would be, and yet, he felt he needed to go back. Even if just to figure out who would be the one to kill him when caught. He reasoned that if they had tracked him down last night, then his time had already run out. They’d find him soon, no matter how well he covered any trace of himself. In which case, it’d be better to confront them head on.

He finished his food and gave the waitress a handsome tip before finding a public restroom to wash up and change.

Louis thought through a plan of action that involved getting there first and putting up a fight before letting them take him down. If he allowed himself to be honest with himself, he could admit that he was tiring of running and hiding and living a lonely existence. Maybe getting put out of his misery would be for the best.

He waited for dusk before driving out to the grounds, and parked in his usual spot, not noticing anything out of the ordinary. At nine p.m., after the world seemed to have quieted down for the night, he took a large breath, and pulled the Glock he owned out of his glove compartment.   
He didn’t care for the idea of guns, but in his line of work, and with the Department of Time Management after him, he had no choice but to line up his defenses. He checked to make sure it was loaded, then got out of the car and slid it into the waistband holder down the back side of his black jeans.

Placing his hands inside the front pockets of his hoodie, he hurried across the grounds, sneaking around the back to find his trusty window waiting for him. Once again, he climbed in without incident and wondered if they knew his routine by now.

As quickly as he had moved to get into the house, now inside he moved slower, almost as if needing the time to process his imminent demise. He stopped in the grand room just before the foyer and leaned against the wall, taking several deep breaths and telling himself that it was okay, that soon he’d be with his parents and his grandparents, that the hell he lived in would soon be over. 

Louis didn’t have anyone to buy time for him. It made sense to him to die in the house he had been born.

With a final deep breath, he pushed himself off the stone wall and turned the corner, walking into the foyer and relieved to see no one else there. He walked to the large grandfather clock and stared at it, remembering a memory of his grandfather winding it with a smile and showing Louis how to do it with the utmost care. He missed his grandfather.

He placed his hand on his stomach and concentrated again, thinking maybe that would trigger the Department to make their presence known. Would they kill him with his back turned? He wouldn’t put it past them. What kind of cowards wanted to kill someone for something they couldn’t control in the first place? He didn’t ask to be born with the ability to manipulate time.

As he entered the time plane again, he felt the warmth of the entity that had placed the trap for him, and he wondered how something so beautiful could be used to destroy him. Then he heard the click of the front door.

In one swift motion, Louis drew the Glock from its holster and aimed it at whoever entered.

“Whoa whoa whoa,” said a blond man, or boy if he had to guess his age.

“We’re unarmed,” said another man, this one tall with loose brown curls and green eyes wide open. “I’m just a baker.”

“I’m just a tour guide,” the blond man said.

Then a third man came into view, and he stared at Louis, pouty lips and brown eyes so honest and innocent that Louis became unsure of why he held a gun in the first place.

“Hi,” the man said, and Louis said nothing. “I’m Liam. I wanted to talk to you.”

“About what?” Louis asked, still holding on strong to the gun in his grip.

“Could you two give us a second?” Liam asked the other two men, and the curly-haired one nodded and took the blond one’s arm and led him to the living room.

“Are you here to kill me or not?” Louis asked him once they were alone.

“Definitely not,” Liam said, his hands still up in surrender. “I left you a clue in the clock. Well, I didn’t know it was you, but I left it for someone like me. Someone who could manipulate time.”

“Hold on. Let me get this straight. You can manipulate time, and you left evidence of that to purposely be found? How stupid are you? Have you not heard of the Department of Time Management?”

“I have. I know it was stupid, but I thought it was worth the risk to find someone like me. Can you please put the gun down?”

Louis wavered, but then placed the gun back in his holster.

“What’s your name?” Liam asked him.

“Louis,” he replied.

“Nice to meet you, Louis,” Liam said, and then he smiled in a way that almost made Louis cough.  
Instead he cleared his throat and tried to erase the most infectious smile he had ever seen from his mind.

“You should go,” Louis told him. “Sorry you found me and not someone else interested in knowing other people that can get him killed.”

“No, I was meant to find you. Don’t you ever get lonely?”

“I’m used to it. Besides, you don’t seem lonely,” Louis said, nodding his head toward the room Liam’s two friends had disappeared to.

“I don’t know the tour guide. I just met him yesterday when I came to look at the house. Harry is my best friend. He knows about my condition.”

“That’s dangerous,” Louis said, convinced this guy was the dumbest person alive. Good thing he had his looks, he supposed. “You shouldn’t trust anyone.”

“I know.”

“You probably shouldn’t trust me either.”

“I’m a risk taker.”

“You have a death wish.”

“No I think you do. I don’t ever feel it necessary to carry around a gun.”

“How are you not dead yet?”

Liam smiled again, and Louis really wished he’d stop doing that.

“Well, I mean, I’m not completely defenseless,” Liam explained. “I have this whole time manipulation thing that comes in handy.”

“Yeah, but so do they,” Louis pointed out. “They know how to use our powers against us. Or not be affected by them. Or something. I’m actually not sure how they work, but I’ve been warned.”

“I’ve been warned too,” Liam nodded. “But I’ve also made it this far.”

“I think you’ve gotten lucky.”

“Maybe,” Liam said.

The two men looked at each other in silence, the grandfather clock beside them ticking each second away.

“How old are you?” Liam asked him.

“23. How old are you?”

“22.”

“You look older,” Louis observed.

“So do you,” Liam observed back.

He felt older. He felt like he had lived a few lifetimes already.

“You should go,” Louis said.

“Not without knowing when I’ll see you again.”

“We really can’t do that. This is dangerous. Besides, I have a life to lead that involves no distractions.”

“I’d be a distraction?” Liam asked, his eyebrow raising in a mischievous way that made Louis clear his throat again.

“You’d be a liability.”

“Does this life involve you using that gun a lot?”

“Only when necessary.”

“Why did you give up this house and everything that was left to you?”

Louis narrowed his eyes, bristling at the personal question.

“That’s none of your business.”

“My parents died when I was young too. They also left me everything they had. They didn’t have a house though so I didn’t get that. I guess I understand though. Not wanting to live in a place where you’re constantly reminded of what you don’t have anymore.”

“So if you know the answer then why did you ask?”

“I was just saying. I understand giving up the house. But why everything else?”

“So they couldn’t trace me and find me. Which is what you should have done too.”

“What’s the point of living if we’re meant to live alone and isolated from the world without anyone to relate to? You’re letting the Department win by that alone.”

“I don’t think too hard about it. I wake up each day, do what I have to do, and call it a day.”

“Well let’s change that up.”

Louis couldn’t believe this guy’s persistence. But something about his insistence made Louis start to think that this guy was not used to hearing “no” for an answer. Or maybe he never accepted “no” for an answer, which made him more dangerous.

“I’m not interested in changing it up,” Louis said.

The clock beside them struck nine and Louis felt disoriented, knowing well that the time should be closer to 9:30. He looked at the clock, his eyes blurred and then focused again just as the chimes stopped. He looked back at Liam and found him standing still, rubbing his fingers over the watch on his wrist.

“What just happened?” Louis asked him.

“We got found. Can you get us out of here without going out the front door?”

“Yeah, follow me. But wait, what about your friends?”

“Harry will know what to do. We have to get out of here.”

Louis led Liam through the dark hallways of the castle, glad that the younger man kept up well and thinking that it made sense with his athletic and fit body. Although why Louis was thinking about Liam’s body at this moment was beyond him.

He got to his window and pulled himself out through it, tugging Liam’s muscular arms to help him out as well. They ran to the side of the house, and Louis noticed cars and lights. He pulled up short, and stood with his back flat against the exterior and hushed Liam, before motioning for him to do the same.

“I can’t get to my car. They have it surrounded,” Louis hissed.

“We can reverse time back to before they got here and make a getaway,” Liam suggested.

“Wait, you used your time powers back in there? Shit, man, come on.”

“I heard them coming. I had to do something,” Liam defended.

“Yeah, you confirmed to them that we were there. Good job,” Louis said, letting out a strong sigh.  
It was definitive. This guy would get him killed.

Louis looked up at the moon, needing any help he could get. There were answers in its light, and he mentally begged for help, hoping the soft rays gave him a better idea than his companion seemed to have had.

Then, as if the rays provided his mind clarity, Louis had an odd thought.

“Wait,” he said. “Did you say you can reverse time?”

“Yeah, and move it forward. Why?”

“Oh, and move it forward,” Louis said, as if of course he could do that as well.

“Wait, why?”

“I can’t do that.”

Liam gave him a confused expression, and Louis nodded in confirmation.

“What do you mean you can’t do that?” Liam asked him.

“That’s not how mine works.”

“Well how does yours work?”

“I create it or destroy it.”

Liam looked disbelieving.

“You can create and destroy time?” He asked.

“Yeah, like, if someone needs more time to do something, I can reach into the time plane, and create the time necessary. It basically makes time longer for them. And I can shorten time by destroying any excess time that I want to get rid of.”

“I’m confused,” Liam said. “How does that work?”

Louis shrugged.

“I don’t know. I’m not a physicist.”

“That’s so weird that we both can control time, but not in the same way,” Liam said, as if trying to understand.

“Yeah, pretty weird. So I’m thinking our only way out of this situation is to confuse them too. They’re probably expecting one power, but not the other. They already know someone with your type of power is here, so you’ll go first, try and reverse time again, and then I’ll come in and destroy enough time for us to make a run for it. How does that sound?”

“I don’t think we have a choice. Let’s do it.”

“Alright, on the count of three.”

“Wait, Louis,” Liam said.

Louis looked at him and Liam bit his lip then hesitated before speaking again.

“I just. Even if this doesn’t work. I’m really glad I met you. I’m glad you exist.”

Louis blinked, wondering why this guy got sentimental all of a sudden, but then nodded, understanding the sentiment within him, even if he didn’t want to acknowledge it.

“Yeah, I guess it’s nice knowing you exist too.”

Louis regretted saying it the moment Liam smiled again. The guy embodied sunshine, and Louis swore he could see his aura when he lit up like that. He hated the idea that he’d never see that smile again, and he hated that he had only known of its existence for such a short time, and he hated that it was too dark to get the full effect. Staring at Liam’s smile seemed like trying to take in a garden show at night, with muted colors and only an idea of their true beauty. Louis supposed that if Liam had been born a flower, he’d have been a sunflower, and Louis stared at him as the moonlight shed a soft glow over Liam’s expectant face. At that moment, Louis had the strangest thought about Liam – he didn’t want to die without seeing Liam’s smile in the daylight.

“Are we ready?” Liam asked, and Louis suddenly wasn’t, but he nodded anyway.

“On the count of three.”

“Okay.”

Louis rested his hand on his stomach, and on the beat of each passing second, he counted to three.


	5. Chapter 5

_You and I  
We don't wanna be like them_

Liam blinked his eyes open, a bright, white light making the act a bit more difficult than he anticipated.

“Oh, good, you’re waking up,” Harry’s voice said.

Liam focused on the location of the voice and made out Harry’s head of wavy curls and his face, covered in cuts. He sat in a chair beside Liam’s futon, his arm in a cast and sling.

“What happened to you?” Liam asked, startled as he tried to sit up, but his head balked and he rested against the pillow again.

“Oh, nothing,” Harry said, “I didn’t just happen to be dealing with a bunch of agents from The Department and then thrown across the lawn when the castle just magically exploded or anything.”

“What?” Liam said, trying to think back to the events of the night.

“Yeah, I’m not sure how any of us survived. And let me tell you, getting you out of that mess with one arm was pretty tough. You had a lot of rubble on you.”

“What about Louis?”

“Him too. Niall helped get him out of there. I brought you back home. I have no idea where Niall took Louis.”

“We have to find him,” Liam said, sitting up again and regretting it as his head spun and nausea took over his body.

“Settle down there, castle-destroyer,” Harry said, helping him lay back down again. “One thing at a time. You need to lay low because trust me, the Department is searching for you. You and your buddy are now public time-enemies number one. You share the honor. Congrats.”

“I have to make sure he’s okay.”

“No. You have to make sure you’re okay. And then you have to explain to me what the hell happened.”

“I have no idea,” Liam said.

“You don’t remember anything?”

Liam thought hard, flashes of images escaping before he could grasp one to understand it, but then he remembered standing by the grandfather clock with Louis, and he remembered thinking that no one should have eyes that blue and that no one should look that hot while holding a gun.

Then he remembered running and watching Louis sneak out the window and having very impure thoughts in that split second about the view Louis gave him. Liam had never been a bigger fan of black jeans than at that moment.

In the next image in his mind, he stood next to Louis and took a peek of him as he prepared to use his powers.

And then nothing.

Liam groaned as another wave of nausea ebbed through him.

“Just rest,” Harry said. “I need to do the same. We’ll talk about it later.”

He did rest, though images continued to flash through his mind, leaving him restless when he awoke again to the clock striking seven. The morning light filtered through the large clock and blanketed him in its light.

Enough strength had returned to him to allow him to sit up without incident, but it felt as if he had run a marathon when he tried to stand up. He took his time, shuffling to the kitchen for a glass of water, drinking it as thoughts raced and caused another headache to form.

Harry came out of his room and walked over to him, looking him up and down then yawning before pouring himself water as well.

“I left messages for Niall,” Harry informed him. “He hasn’t gotten back to me yet.”

“We should go to the castle and find him.”

“Okay, you really don’t remember anything,” Harry said. “There is no castle. And going back to the scene of the crime is stupid. It’s covered in police and fire fighters and investigators. So no. Try again.”

“But that’s the only place we know how to find him.”

“I got his cell number. We can get to him don’t worry. He’s probably trying to recover as well. We weren’t the only ones that got banged up.”

Liam had no choice but to wait, but as each hour passed, and they continued to wait for word from Niall, Liam got nervous and anxious.

“What if I just reverse time to the moment before everything happened and keep it from happening,” Liam suggested as they watched an old movie on TV to try and distract themselves from the painful wait.

“You don’t have enough energy for that right now,” Harry said, “And I think it might make things a bigger mess.”

“What if I move time forward to when Niall calls?” Liam tried.

“I don’t think you have the energy for that either, plus, you don’t know when he’s going to call, so you could miss it and not know. Just chill.”

However, even Harry now seemed to be a bit frustrated and on edge.

Daylight left them and Liam paced back and forth in front of the clock window, shaking his head and feeling dread mix in with his nausea.

“Something’s wrong,” Liam said.

“I’m getting that feeling too,” Harry admitted, looking at his phone for any messages. “Let me call their office and see if they’ve heard from him.”

Liam continued to pace and rubbed his hand over his watch out of habit, something his nervousness brought out in him even when he wasn’t manipulating time.

“Hi, have you guys heard from Niall?” Harry asked, and then his face mutated, from resting frustration, to confusion, to ashen horror. He hung up and Liam’s stomach flipped.

“What happened?” Liam stopped pacing and stared at Harry for the answer.

“You need to start building up your energy right now,” Harry said.

Liam needed more of an explanation, but Harry darted up and forced Liam back into his futon.

“Get as much sleep as you can. I’ll find some alcohol that will help knock you out.”

“Harry…”

“Trust me. Do this, Liam. You need to do this. In the morning, I’ll tell you why.”

Liam felt hot tears bubbling beneath the surface of his emotions, and he cradled the bottle of wine that Harry had found for him as he tried to force himself to sleep, but the moonlight flooded his space, and he stared at it, as another memory of the night triggered for him.

He could see Louis staring up at the moon, almost as if communicating with it, much as Liam himself did with the sun, even if he never could do it by looking directly up at it. But the connection existed, and Liam thought about how he had told them they had different powers of time. Maybe Louis’ powers tied to the moon, and maybe the moon would have the answers Liam needed.  
So he tried to communicate with it and fell asleep trying.


	6. Chapter 6

_We can make it till the end  
Nothing can come between_

Louis awoke and didn’t understand the lights above him at first, but as things came into view and he tried to move his arms, he understood the situation too well.

He came to again moments later, after the initial shock had worn off, and looked around the sterile white room, the only other color present being the metal gleaming around his arms and legs to keep him in place. A glass window lined the wall he faced, and he saw Niall standing there, with his arms crossed as he spoke to another man.

“Fucking tour guide my ass,” Louis muttered as he tested the clamps to see how tight they were.

Niall entered the room, looking a bit cut up and bruised but not worse for the wear as he limped into the room.

“Your underage ass barely passed for a tour guide, but I guess it was a good cover, asshole,” Louis greeted him.

“I’m actually 22,” Niall stated.

“Fuck you.”

“I’m just following orders. How are you feeling?”

“Just kill me already. Don’t patronize me with your dumb questions. I’d like my death to be quick and painless thank you.”

“No one’s killing you today,” Niall told him.

The blond man pulled a chair over to Louis’ bed-prison and sat down, stretching his leg out.

“What’s with the limp?” Louis asked him.

“This is a pretty dangerous job. I injured it a couple of years ago on one of my training missions.”

“It’s a dangerous job to kill innocent people because they were born with something they had no control over?”

“Well you and your friend just destroyed a castle, so yeah, it is.”

Louis narrowed his eyes, not sure he could remember exactly what had happened. The last thing he remembered was Liam’s too bright smile.

“He’s not my friend,” Louis said, but then softened, “Where is he?”

“Not sure,” Niall said. “His friend Harry got him away before we could grab him.”

Louis nodded in understanding and closed his eyes, letting the dull pain in his head wash over for a moment before opening his eyes to look back at Niall.

“So you’re not killing me today because you think I’m going to help you find him,” Louis stated.

“You are going to help us find him.”

“You guys are wasting your time. You might as well just kill me now.”

“I don’t think you understand what happened last night,” Niall stated.

“I don’t think you understand that I don’t even know that guy and wouldn’t have the first idea on how to find him,” Louis retorted.

“I do understand that, but I’m also pretty certain that he’s going to be looking for you.”

Shit. Louis closed his eyes again. Liam would be dumb enough to do that.

“I’m not helping you,” Louis said, keeping his eyes closed to appease the dull pain that persisted in his head and down the back of his neck.

“You don’t have a choice. We know he’ll come find you, and you’re not going to be able to get out of this room.”

“Isn’t there a waiver you have to sign before agreeing to be a trap?”

“Funny,” Niall said. “Listen, last night, the two of you combined your forces and destroyed your castle. The home you grew up in. You guys are a risk to society, whether you want to admit it or not. If there was another way, I promise that I would help out and let you guys live your lives in peace, but there just isn’t. We have to protect the majority, even if sacrificing one or two people.”

“Spare me your propaganda philosophy. So I blew up a castle. It was mine to blow up anyway.”

“You had given it away. It wasn’t yours anymore.”

“Semantics.”

“You’re a nomad. A hermit. You have no life. You don’t contribute to society, and you have this power that can cause destruction. If you were in our shoes, what would you do?”

“I’d leave me alone,” Louis said, looking back at him.

Niall smiled, and Louis thought he almost looked sympathetic, but then the man stood up and put the chair back in its place as he limped out of the room and locked the door.

Louis let out a deep sigh and tried to think of a way out of this mess. He had to find Liam before Liam found him, otherwise they’d both be dead before they knew it.

He needed to find strength to use his powers, but the windowless room left getting helped by the moon out of the equation. He tried to sense what time it could be, but even that perk seemed to have left him at the moment.

Nutrition and water could help, but he knew they were keeping him alive just enough to lure Liam, so expecting any basic needs would be a waste of time. They’d probably even tell him to just piss on himself if he had to, which at the moment, he kind of had to.

Frustrated, he mentally chided himself for the predicament. If he had not gone back to the castle, he’d be fine right now. Curiosity had done him in, but at the same time, he never would have met Liam. Not that he needed to meet Liam, and definitely considering present circumstances it would have been better if he hadn’t met him, but then again, Liam had been so firm in his belief that they needed to meet.

They had caused destruction when they had used their powers together, and Louis wondered if that had always been the case. What if one time Louis had used his power when Liam had, without knowing the other existed, and something terrible had happened that they didn’t know had been their fault? Maybe that’s the type of thing Niall had been referring to.

Louis closed his eyes and tried to not cry, but memories of his loving grandparents in the house he had destroyed haunted him now, and he wanted to be back in the castle, having his grandmother tuck him into his warm and comfortable bed, promising that he’d have sweet dreams for the night.

Maybe Liam had been right. What was the point of living if he couldn’t allow himself those types of comfort anymore? And what did he care if Liam suffered the same fate? No matter how many bright smiles he gave, Liam had been lonely. Maybe letting the Department kill them would be the best thing for everyone.


	7. Chapter 7

_You and I  
Not even the gods above  
Can separate the two of us_

Liam’s blood ran cold when Harry explained how Niall worked for the Department of Time Management and how he had more than likely taken Louis to headquarters. Then his blood boiled.

“I’m not letting them kill him.”

“Liam…” Harry cautioned, “They might have already.”

“No, they haven’t. I would know. I don’t know how I would know, I just would.”

“How are you feeling this morning?”

“Quite angry.”

“Good, that will help with whatever we’re about to do to find Louis. Which, if you care, I think you shouldn’t put your life at risk for this, but I also know you won’t listen to me. Also, if I’m being completely honest, I want to kick Niall’s ass.”

“That’s how we’re going to do it,” Liam said. His mind jumped from thought to thought as the ideas for a plan settled in order.

“How we’re going to do what?”

“We’re not going to look for Louis. That would be a suicide mission.”

“Finally, you’re on my page.”

“We’re going to find Niall instead. We’ll convince him to let Louis free.”

“That plan’s not gonna work because when we see Niall, I’m going to pull every strand of that glorious blond hair out of his head and shove it down his throat.”

“This is our only shot. We don’t have any other choice.”

“Yeah, but how are we even going to find him?”

“Oh, did I say we were going to find him? I meant that I was going to let him find us,” Liam said, and smiled bright.

“Oh no,” Harry said. He shook his head and waved his hands. “No. No. We’re not doing that.”

“It’s the only way.”

“Liam, you can’t give yourself away like that. Not for this. I get that you’re excited that you found someone like you, but you’re going to expose yourself for what is essentially a suicide mission. You said yourself it was.”

“We can start over somewhere else if it doesn’t work.”

“Start over? Where Liam? That clock protects you,” Harry said, pointing aggressively toward the clock window. “You’ve worked hard to find a place where you wouldn’t be found. It took you years to perfect that clock with your powers to cloak the fact that someone like you lives here. Years, Liam. Years that you now don’t have because they have a face and name attached to you. They’re never going to stop looking for you now.”

“I know,” Liam said, wishing he could calm his friend down, but it was difficult to calm down a person that made rational sense.

“You know, but yet you still want to have Niall find you and come here and do what? You think you’re going to convince him to let Louis go? For what reason? Your parents did what they could to protect you before they died. Why would you throw their efforts away for this?”

“Because my parents would have done this,” Liam snapped. “If my parents were in this situation, they would do what they could to save Louis. That’s the real legacy they left behind before they died.”

Liam had to turn away from Harry then. His parents had been great people, and had spent their lives helping the people around them. They had been nomadic, never staying in one place for too long, moving from city to city, community to community, volunteering at organizations to help those in need. 

It wasn’t until after their death, when Liam had been given their possessions, that he found out why. With the watch he now wore, his father had left him a note, telling him of the power that ran through their family, and how the government would try and find him to kill him. The advice his father had left him in the note read simply – you can’t escape them, but you can make them work for it.

After his parents died, Liam had made it his mission to find a way to prevent the Department from killing him and anyone like him. He worked hard on the time cloak that protected his home, and he worked hard on figuring out other ways to manipulate time so that reality and perception never matched up. 

Liam knew he stood a chance against Niall if he lured him to his turf. However, as Harry pointed out, he would have to find a new home. He didn’t mind taking the risk.

“I’m sorry,” Harry said. “I shouldn’t have brought up your parents like that. Hell, if it wasn’t for your parents, I wouldn’t have been around to save your ass so, I owe them the respect of trusting your judgment and helping you however I can.”

Liam didn’t know he needed to hear that until Harry had said it, and he turned around and pulled Harry into a tight hug.

“I’m sorry too, for not appreciating you more. I’m not lonely, and I have you to thank for that.”

“Mutual, now let’s get down to business before this gets sappier than necessary.”

“Alright, text Niall and let him know that if he wants to find me, he should be able to now, but he’ll only be able to find me if he comes alone.”

Harry sent the message and Liam stood at the clock window, pressing his hands against the cool glass as he leaned forward and touched his forehead to it. He stared out at the city that breathed around him, and he thought then that he hadn’t appreciated the view enough in his time there. He tried to take it all in now, and his emotions flooded him as he thought about how his parents would have probably loved the view.

He wondered what they really would think about the man he had become. He had followed in their footsteps, doing what he could to use his power to help the people around him. He reversed time to help cars avoid collision. He moved it forward so that firefighters could evacuate a house before a roof collapsed. His only regret involved not being able to be everywhere at the same time, but he always did what he could.

He thought his parents would be proud, but his thoughts shifted to the people of the city that now would have no one to look out for them. Was it worth revealing himself to Niall if so many lives would no longer be saved? Was he being selfish? What would his parents really think of this decision?

“He says he’s in,” Harry said. “So do your thing.”

Liam nodded to let Harry know he heard him, but he did nothing. He continued to stare, watching how the sun reflected from the skyscrapers and twinkled in the windows. He took in the different heights of the buildings, and thought warmly of how, in their own linear ways, they resembled the mountains behind Louis’ castle. He took in the breaks of blue sky between the white clouds that hung a little lower today, as if they could touch the tallest spires in the city. He held onto the image as long as he could – and then he let it go.

Liam pushed himself off the glass and stood straight, grasping the watch on his wrist as he concentrated on the time cloak he had weaved from seconds and minutes that had travelled along his path. Unravelling it would not be difficult, but he still felt scared, knowing that it wasn’t just the cloak he’d be unravelling.

In the time plane, he could see the weave of time he had created, and he manipulated it, taking each connected millisecond apart and letting it free. He expected the disoriented feeling that came over him, and he imagined if Harry still stood in close proximity, that his friend could feel the shifts in time that were rapidly occurring.

It took him less than a minute to take apart what had taken him years to build, and he stumbled back onto his futon, exhausted and dizzy.

“I’m going to throw up,” Harry said, hunched over the sink of the kitchen.

“Sorry about that,” Liam told him. He rested his head against the back of the futon to rest while he waited.

Niall arrived in three hours, which had been plenty of time for Liam to regain most of his energy from the morning’s events. It also gave Harry enough time to recover from his disorientation.

The doorman buzzed to let them know they had a visitor and Liam gave the go ahead to let him up.

Liam and Harry stood together by the door, waiting for the inevitable knock.

“So, do you want me to hit him first or…,” Harry said.

“Let me handle this,” Liam assured him, placing his hand on Harry’s shoulder and giving it a squeeze.

When the knock occurred, Liam opened the door and allowed their visitor in.

“Welcome, traitor,” Harry said and Liam didn’t bother to hide his smile.

“Thanks for that,” Niall said, looking around at the space and noticing the clock window as Liam led him through the penthouse. “Wow, that’s really, I mean, it’s cool, but also obvious. I’ve passed this building tons of times and I never thought there was a person living up here. I thought it was just for decoration.”

“Someone sucks at their job,” Harry observed.

“Is Louis still alive?” Liam asked, his eyes level with Niall’s.

“He is,” Niall confirmed. “For now.”

“How do we change that so he’s alive and well and not being held captive by you guys?” Liam said.

“We don’t. But if you came down there with me, I wouldn’t stop you from trying.”

“Right,” Liam nodded, “Because once I’m down there you can kill us both.”

“I have to say,” Niall replied, “I didn’t anticipate whatever this is. I thought for sure you’d already be down there trying. Considering the lengths you went through to find him in the first place.”

“Did you know what I was up to as soon as you met me?”

“I suspected,” Niall said. “Your questions were specific enough to what I’d be looking out for.”

“Wait, you knew then?” Harry interrupted. “You fucking…I can’t even think of a name low enough for what I want to call you.”

“I suspected,” Niall repeated for him.

“Don’t give me that,” Harry said, “You knew. I’m so mad at ever thinking you were cute.”

“You thought I was cute?” Niall asked, amused with an eyebrow raised.

“You know damn well I thought you were cute. I must have been blinded by the blond hair thing. Now that I look at you, you’re kind of homely.”

“Okay,” Niall said, amusement still at the corner of his lips.

“Niall, help us,” Liam said. “Come on. There has to be a part of you that thinks it’s not okay to just kill people for being born different.”

“You mean for being born dangerous,” Niall corrected him.

“How are we dangerous?” Liam asked. “Until we were together, we never caused any issues. At least I didn’t.”

“Are you sure of that?” Niall asked him.

“All I’ve ever tried to do is help people,” Liam explained. “I’ve only ever used my power to stop people from getting killed, or badly injured. Never anything bad. The castle thing was an accident. But now that I know it’s possible, I can be much more careful and not put myself in that situation again. And I’m sure Louis could do the same.”

“You’ve tried to help people,” Niall said, looking toward the clock window and then back at Liam. “You’ve stopped people from dying. But did it never occur to you that maybe that was their time to die? You’ve stopped people from being badly injured, but what if the person you kept safe was supposed to be badly injured for reasons you didn’t know? You can’t change people’s destinies and not think there won’t be any repercussions.”

“That’s only if you believe that everything that happens has been predetermined, but the fact that people like me exist show that it isn’t. If we can change the past, or the present as it’s happening, or the future, then it doesn’t matter what could have been. All that matters is what is. What I do is no different than you walking across the street and pushing someone out of the way of an oncoming bus.”

“Except that I do it in the same time that it’s happening. I don’t manipulate time to do it. I don’t disturb the natural order of the world. That’s what’s dangerous, Liam. When you disturb the natural order, maybe it’s little things at first, but they all add up, and before you know it, you’ve destroyed a castle. Next time it could be a nuclear power plant, or planes carrying hundreds of passengers, or even a whole city.”

“That was an accident.”

“An accident this world cannot afford. Your powers are dangerous, and people make mistakes. It’s a risk we cannot take.”

“Why can’t you guys just make them sign a contract saying they won’t use their powers?” Harry suggested. “Instead of just being murderers and everything.”

“Like Liam already said. They’re born with these powers. It’s in them. It’s a part of them. They can’t just not use them if a situation arises when they can’t control their emotions.”

“I have a question for you,” Liam said, thinking of his conversation with Louis, “Louis and I have different time powers. Did you know there were different ones? That we weren’t all the same?”

“Yeah, we learn about that in training,” Niall said. “There are two types of time manipulators. They descend from separate time-family lineages. In ancient times, these two families were always at war with each other, but that’s because they were both attempting to be the ruling family, since they both thought their powers afforded them that privilege.”

“Well at least you know you and Louis aren’t related,” Harry shrugged.

Liam rolled his eyes and motioned for Niall to continue.

“They caused a lot of destruction during their arguments and battles, so laws were created to start killing everyone in each line for the safety of the world. Unfortunately, lineages don’t always die off completely.”

“Unfortunately?” Harry said, “These are people you are talking about. What you mean is fortunately they survived, because that’s what people do.”

“I could have phrased that better,” Niall admitted.

“Are Louis and I the only ones left?” Liam asked, dreading the answer.

“No,” Niall said.

Liam let out a sigh of relief. Even if they killed him and Louis today, there’d still be others. And the idea that they were distant family members made him smile a little.

“How many are we talking here?” Harry asked.

“We know of twenty,” Niall said. “In the whole world. Including the two of you.”

Harry laughed and Liam gave him an odd look.

“Sorry,” Harry said, after he had finished, “Typical government. Wasting taxpayer money to put together a whole department to look for 20 people. 20. Unreal.”

“Well if it makes your tax-paying self feel better,” Niall said, “We’re a small department.”

“So 20 is an even number,” Liam pointed out, “Is it an even split? 10 that are like me, 10 that are like him?”

“We’re not sure. We only know for a handful what time power they have. I don’t believe it has to be even though.”

“Do you know why we destroyed the castle when we both used our powers at the same time?”

“You caused a lot of stress on the time plane. It couldn’t handle the double assault in the same location, so it ruptured. So much so that nothing can ever exist in that location again. It’s almost as if it created a black hole of time, if you will. We lost an officer in it.”

“That’s creepy,” Harry said.

“That’s why we can’t let you guys live,” Niall pointed out. “You killed someone yesterday, and you didn’t even know it. You probably have killed people before without knowing it.”

Liam’s stomach dropped and he looked at Harry, losing a bit of his resolve in the moment as he shook his head.

“Don’t come in here saying that,” Harry said, reaching out to Liam to steady him. “Liam didn’t kill anyone, and he never has. Like he said, it was an accident, and he had no way of knowing that would happen. But you guys did, so you should have been prepared for that. Don’t put your department’s own ineptitudes on us.”

“Ineptitudes? That’s a big word for a baker,” Niall said.

“Screw you. Unlike you, I am who I claim to be. In fact, I had every intention of baking you cupcakes for the next time I saw you. So congrats, you fucked yourself out of the best cupcakes you’d ever have.”

Liam still felt sick, completely in agreement that he had led to the death of an innocent person. He had to focus and not let his guilt sidetrack him at the moment. There would be time to grieve later, but only if he saved himself.

“Niall,” Liam tried again, “I do understand what you are saying. But we exist on this planet the same as you, and there has to be a reason for that. If you’re going around killing all of us, then isn’t that also manipulating the natural order of things? We’re meant to be here for a reason.”

“That’s a good argument,” Niall acknowledged, “And I’m sure my boss would like to hear it. So you should probably come down to the Department with me and tell him that.”

“For someone who claims he’s trying to save the world,” Harry said, “You’re very cold-hearted.”

“I’m just doing my job,” Niall said, putting his hands out as if apologizing.

“Well so am I,” Liam said, grabbing his watch and rubbing it as he attempted to shift time forward, but it didn’t work and Niall had put his hand up, shaking his head at Liam.

“I was anticipating that,” Niall said.

“Yeah?” Harry said. “And were you anticipating this?”

Harry’s fist swung quick as Niall stumbled back from the force. He grabbed his face with his hand but couldn’t balance himself in time, his body slamming against the wooden floor.

Liam rubbed his watch again and moved time forward and back to keep Niall disoriented and on the ground, giving Harry the chance to fight through the time rifts himself to grab Niall’s information from any pocket he could find.

“He packed light,” Harry said, holding up Niall’s car keys.

“Go find it and meet me outside,” Liam instructed as Niall doubled over as he attempted to stand up.

Harry took off and Liam crouched before Niall, his instinct to help him, but knowing he couldn’t. He rubbed his watch again, and manipulated the time he could grasp to weave a protective shell, and then he thought again about Louis’ power and wished he was there to help him. Creating time would make the process go by quicker.

As if he had sparked a flame, flashes of time that he knew hadn’t been there before appeared, and Liam concentrated again, thinking again about having more time to work with. Again, new time flashed before him, and Liam became so caught up by the discovery that he too could create time, that he didn’t notice the trembling of the floor beneath him.

“Stop!” Niall yelled out at him, as he struggled to get on all fours. “Liam, stop!”

He would stop, but first he had to see what he was doing and how he was doing it. How did he not know he had the power to create time before? And could he also destroy it? He concentrated again on the born time and commanded it to disappear, and as he did, he heard Niall cry out.

“Liam!”

His concentration broke when he heard a loud crack, and he looked over in time to see the glass of the clock window shatter.

Liam flung himself over Niall to cover him and reached for the pillow on his futon to cover his own head before the first impact of the shards exploded in their direction.

He heard another crack and another, as the other glass windows in the penthouse followed the clock window’s lead. Liam felt the sting of broken skin on his legs.

When the noise stopped and the activity seemed to have settled, Liam removed the pillow from over his head and groaned in pain as he moved his body off of Niall’s.

He looked down at himself, blood soaking through his pant legs. He lifted each pant leg up and pulled out the shards as fast as he could.

“Are you okay?” Liam asked Niall, looking over at him as the blond pushed himself up to a seating position.

“Why don’t you ever listen to me?” Niall asked him.

“I didn’t know what was happening. I was trying to create a time bubble to keep you in so you wouldn’t come after us, but then I started thinking about Louis’ powers and next thing I knew, I was creating time and destroying it.”

“I knew it,” Niall said, nodding as he took in the condition of Liam’s legs.

“You knew what?”

Niall stood up and walked to the kitchen, and Liam heard him looking around the cabinets and then running water.

“Here,” Niall said when he returned, kneeling down before Liam and dabbing at the cuts with a warm, wet dish towel.

“Thanks,” Liam said. “What did you know?”

“That you had both sets of powers. I knew it when I figured out that you had the power of time. After you left the house, I had gone back to see if you had left any evidence behind, and when I found the clue you had left for Louis, I knew.”

“How did you know?”

“Because no one else with the time ability can do anything like that. Just like no one else with your ability can create time cloaks and time bubbles. You have every time power imaginable. Which means, you’re the Time Keeper.”

Liam narrowed his eyebrows and asked, “The Time Keeper?”

“You’re the most powerful time manipulator there is, and history has shown us that there is only one every generation. One person who comes from a specific line of people with the power of time. A line that was created when one person from each of the time families created offspring together. They passed on the powers of both sides, which in turn caused that person to have time powers that no one else on either side even knew existed.”

Liam let the information sink in before speaking.

“So that probably means I’m public time-enemy number one, huh?”

“Yep,” Niall nodded.

“But how did I not know I could do all this? Are you saying there are even more powers that I have that I don’t know about?”

“Probably an infinite amount,” Niall said.

“I don’t get it.”

“They were latent,” Niall explained, “Probably when you connected your power with Louis’, it made them active. Almost like when your engine dies and you have to jump start it.”

“So now what?” Liam asked him. “I can’t hide in time for you guys to kill me. I could beg you guys to just take me out and let Louis live, but I doubt you’d go for that.”

“It’s not that simple,” Niall said, for the first time in all of this looking a bit worried.

“What’s not simple?”

“You’re the Time Keeper. They’ll want you brought in alive so that they can conduct experiments and study you. Once they get all the information they need, then they’ll kill you so they can do more experiments. They don’t have any complete data on Time Keepers so it’s important that they do the research.”

“Fine. Let Louis go and I’ll come with you willingly.”

“That’s not how that works,” Niall said.

“Why not?”

“We have to kill him regardless.”

“You sound like a robot. Don’t you have any feelings that are yours instead of whatever they brainwashed you to feel on this job?”

“I have a lot of feelings that are my own,” Niall said. “But none more true to who I am then to protect people.”

“Certain people. Or do you not consider us people at all?”

Niall shrugged, then checked on Liam’s legs, biting his lip again as he leaned in to take out a small piece of glass that had been missed.

“Obviously you are people,” Niall said.

“Why did you take this job?” Liam asked him. “What made you want to do this as a career?”

“That’s classified.”

Liam raised his eyebrow.

Niall shrugged again and finished up wiping the new trails of blood on Liam’s leg.

“I need you to take me to the Department,” Liam said. “If not, Harry and I will figure out how to get there ourselves.”

“I have no choice but to take you.”

“Then you have to help me free Louis.”

“That I don’t have to do. But I could let you see him before he passes.”

“You mean before he’s murdered?”

“Use whatever word you like,” Niall said, standing up.

Niall offered Liam a hand to pull him up, but Liam pushed himself up on his own merit, not caring to get any help from the man, even as they left the damaged apartment to meet Harry outside.

Harry sat in the driver’s seat of Niall’s car and refused to move as he told Niall to get in the back.   
Liam sat in the front passenger side and rested his head, attempting to think of a new game plan with the knowledge he had learned.

He was the Time Keeper. He didn’t know what that meant, but he knew that if it had a name and if it changed the circumstances for the Department, then it had to be big and important. He wondered if his parents knew or if they had even heard of the term.

As Niall gave Harry directions along the way, Liam allowed his mind to drift to the time plane, letting it explore and relax in its own way, looking at the variances and brightness of the time segments that moved within it. It looked like its own galaxy in a way, with some particles moving fast, while others moved slow. It ebbed and flow, curved and straightened, and still in the midst of it all existed rhyme and reason.

While he moved each piece around to form a harmonious flow, he started to think that maybe he did know the purpose of a Time Keeper.

He opened his eyes and looked at the marble building ahead, large columns looming as a multitude of steps led up to the main archway.

“I’m guessing this is it,” Harry said.

“Yeah, go up to the gate,” Niall instructed.

Harry looked to Liam for confirmation and Liam motioned for him to stop the car.

“Get out,” Liam told him.

“Oh no. Not this again. I am not letting you…”

“Harry, get the fuck out of the car. You’ve done enough for me, and you don’t have to do anymore.”

“I’m not getting out of this car,” Harry said, inching up toward the gate.

Liam pulled up the emergency brake causing all three passengers to jerk forward and back.

“Harry,” Liam said, staring into his green eyes, “When I go through that gate, they are going to arrest me. You can’t stop that. You need to go.”

“But, Liam…” Harry said, and Liam hated seeing his best friend have to blink back his angry tears. “You’re the only family I have.”

“No, you have 18 other family members somewhere out there. Find them. Warn them. That’s the legacy I leave you.”

Harry nodded and Liam reached over to pull him into an embrace, holding the back of his head tight and letting his fingers get lost in the loose curls. Harry didn’t hide his sniffles or tears, and Liam felt the tight grasp of Harry’s arms around him.

“Go,” Liam said, and he pulled away, pushing Harry toward the door. “Go!”

Harry wiped his cheek with the back of his hand and took one last look at Liam before opening the door and leaving the car.

Liam waited for Niall to get out as well before wiping his own face dry.

Once Niall sat in the driver’s seat he looked over at Liam.

“You alright?”

“I’m fine,” Liam said, looking out the window to see Harry running further away.

“I can wait a few more moments if you need me to,” Niall offered.

“Just go in and let’s get this over with,” Liam told him.

Niall nodded and released the emergency brake. He drove up to the gate and showed his ID for show. They knew he’d be arriving, and the moment they crossed the threshold of the gate, Liam felt as if a metal door had been shut between him and the time plane.

Security guards rushed out, armed and pointing their weapons at the car.

“They’re under orders to not harm you,” Niall told Liam. “But just to be safe, let me get out first.”

Liam waited as Niall got out and came to the passenger side to collect him.

If Liam couldn’t access the time plane, then he had nothing left to do then to see Louis and say goodbye.


	8. Chapter 8

_I figured it out  
Saw the mistakes of up and down_

Louis had made no progress, and he lay frustrated and going mad with each passing second of nothingness. He had lost his patience since the moment he had first woken up there, and now with it gone, he thrashed about in hopes of wearing himself out to the point of nonexistence.

He dreamed of Liam’s smile, he dreamed of his grandparents, he dreamed of sunflowers, he dreamed of the moon, and when he could dream no more, he made up scenarios – like waking up and being back home with this all having been a bad dream.

When that no longer kept him occupied, he resorted to counting, pacing himself to seconds, then minutes. If he thought he got the timing wrong, he started over.

During his more delirious spells, he attempted to connect to the time plane, but that had been futile since the moment he had woken up there. He thought he kept doing something wrong, so he tried and tried until falling back asleep.

The sound of the door opening woke him up, but he couldn’t really see why it had opened, and his eyes blurred too much to make out who had come in.

He assumed it was Niall, visiting him to tell him that Liam had been killed or that Liam had still not arrived. 

“Louis,” came the gentle voice, and Louis’ eyes widened, forcing his sight through the blur to make out the face he knew connected to that voice.

“Liam?” Louis asked, his voice weak and ragged, parched from dehydration.

“Louis,” Liam said again, holding his hand. The warmth of human contact invigorated him.

“They’re going to…kill you,” Louis croaked out.

“Shh, it’s okay,” Liam said.

Louis had the thought that Liam was still dumb. It comforted him.

“Can’t…use powers,” Louis said.

“I know,” Liam said.

Louis felt Liam’s warm hand touching his cheek, and Louis turned his head into it, wanting to always feel Liam’s warm palm against his skin.

He then felt Liam move his other hand to the other cheek and up to his head, tangling his fingers in Louis’ hair.

Even out of his mind, Louis thought the action strange, but he said nothing, and allowed Liam to do what he liked.

A flash crossed his mind, and then another, like signals being sent in three-second intervals, and then he could see an image of the time plane, but it didn’t feel real.

“He’s warm,” Louis heard Liam say. “I think he has a fever.”

Louis didn’t know who Liam addressed, but he did indeed feel warm as each flash hurried by, and Louis reached out with his mind to grab one, at first unsuccessful, but then stopping a flash in its track. At that moment, the time zone appeared to him again in his mind, and it no longer seemed like an image.

“Maybe you should have the lab person take another look at him,” Liam said. “Give him something to ease his pain. At least let his arms and legs out of those metal things. Give him some comfort.”

“There’s no point,” Niall’s voice said.

Louis felt anger well up inside him, and he played with the particles in the time plane further, shifting them around until he found the ones he needed.

“Stop being an asshole,” Liam said to Niall. “You’re going to kill him anyway. Just let him have a moment’s comfort before you do.”

Louis’ eyes focused on the scene before him, and as soon as he saw Niall, he wanted to lunge at him. However, Liam had placed his hand on Louis’ stomach, as if holding him in place from getting up.

Niall relented and walked to the edge of the bed, pushing some things that Louis assumed to be buttons.

The restraints released and Niall turned his attention back to Liam.

“It’s time for you to say goodbye, Liam,” Niall said.

“No,” Liam said, placing his hand in Louis’, but Louis realized that it wasn’t his hand Liam wanted him to grab. “It’s time for you, Niall, to say goodbye.”

Louis grabbed Liam’s watch and pushed his mental state as hard as he could to destroy enough time for Liam to pick Louis up and run out of the room carrying him.

Alarms went off and they were cut off at a hallway by security running toward them.

“Put me down,” Louis insisted.

“You’re too weak.”

“Fuck you. Put me down.”

Louis held on until Liam found a hallway clear of guards. He put Louis down on the ground in a gentle motion.

Louis took a deep breath and created some time for them, needing the breather, but also needing to be able to get on his own two feet and help out.

“How did you do that?” Louis asked as he attempted to push himself up off the ground. When Liam offered to help, Louis swatted his hand away.

“How did I do what?”

“Use your powers to give me my powers.”

“I have powers they can’t anticipate,” Liam explained, “So their defenses don’t work against them all. They can’t shut down time completely, or it would cause chaos, so they can only shut down the ones they know about. From the moment I felt mine shut down, I started looking for anything that could go around the defenses, and that’s when I discovered that I could manipulate time to transfer from me to another person.”

“That’s not fair,” Louis said, finally up in a standing position though he leaned against the wall. “Why do you get so many cool time powers?”

“I don’t know,” Liam said, “I guess they felt sorry for me because I was so dumb.”

Louis gave Liam a small glare and Liam smiled, clearly enjoying his own joke.

“I’ve changed my mind,” Louis said, “You’re not dumb. You’re just crazy.”

“I’ll take it.”

“Okay, so are we blowing up this joint or what?”

“How about we not kill anyone today? Are you ready to run?”

“I’m way ahead of you, sunshine.”

“Did you just call me sunshine?”

“No. You’re hearing things.”

Louis turned around and started wobbling instead of running, but at least with his back turned to Liam, he wouldn’t be able to see how pink Louis’ face had turned. 

They got cut off by two security guards and Louis felt dizzy for a moment, but then realized that Liam had warped time to make the guards look like nothing more than projections as Liam pulled Louis right through them while they ran down the hall.

“What the hell was that?” Louis asked.

“Trying something new,” Liam said.

“You made them disappear,” Louis said, trying to understand what he had just witnessed.

“I think I just moved them to another time.”

“Well heads up, you’re about to do it again,” Louis said, pointing toward the new guards coming their way.

Liam performed his time trick again and Louis stumbled, running out of whatever energy the adrenaline had kicked into him. He felt weak, and his body didn’t seem to want to move anymore as he lay on the cold tile of the hallway.

“Louis, are you okay?”

“I don’t think so,” he said, his eyes closing as he felt the tremors of more loud steps stomping toward them. “Go, Liam, go. It’s okay.”

“Now who’s being dumb?” Liam said.

Louis felt Liam put his hand on Louis’ back, and then in a flash, Louis felt his entire body shift, as if blown to the side by a massive gust of wind. Then it happened again, and again, and then it stopped.

“What happened?” Louis asked.

“I made us disappear instead,” Liam said.

Then Louis passed out.


	9. Chapter 9

_Meet in the middle  
There's always room for common ground_

Liam held onto Louis as if letting go of him would make the world combust. He continued to shift them into parallel time frames until he got them outside the gates and back into the world where the sun fed him power and the metal gate blocking him from the time plane had been lifted.

He thought he could get away then, but Niall stood before him, staring, a tiny hint of admiration glinting in his eye.

“That was impressive,” Niall said.

“Seems like you still have a lot to learn,” Liam said. “Good luck with that.”

“I don’t think we’re the only ones,” Niall replied.

Liam knew that all too well. He’d have to start his life over, and he’d have to figure out how to be the Time Keeper he needed to be, but he’d already accepted the challenge.

“I promise I won’t cause any destruction if you and your people leave me alone,” Liam said.

“I’m sure,” Niall said, and then he nodded at Louis, “But you can’t make that promise for him.”

“He’ll be fine. I’ll help him.”

“I’m not sure it’ll be that easy,” Niall said. “My boss really liked what he saw in there just now. That’s why he sent me out here to wait for you. He thinks it’ll be more valuable in the long run to see what you do with your newfound power. But we’re going to keep monitoring you.”

“Until I disappear again.”

“That will never happen if you keep him around,” Niall said, nodding again toward Louis.

Liam narrowed his eyes at Niall.

“What do you mean?”

“While he was in our custody, we implanted a tracker in him. In case something like this happened where you were actually able to free him.”

“I’ll find it and take it out,” Liam stated.

“Not without killing him,” Niall said. “It’s fused to his spinal cord toward the base of his skull. Even the most skilled surgeon wouldn’t take the risk of removing it.”

Liam’s heart sank faster than his stomach, and his knees wobbled, threatening to send him straight to the ground.

“Why would you do that?” Liam asked, shaking his head and wanting to scream.

“We had to. It’s the only way we could keep track of you. But, you know, you could just let him go and you’d be home free. I kind of want you to keep him around though. We’ll get to see each other more.”

Liam had no words. What was the point of having all this power if he couldn’t live in peace? He couldn’t abandon Louis. He never would. Nevermind that he had found someone that understood him, this came down to the principle of the matter. Louis was one of his kind, and as the Time Keeper, he had to protect his kind.

“Does he know?” Liam asked Niall.

“No. He was out cold when the procedure was done.”

“Don’t tell him.”

Niall raised an eyebrow, then nodded.

“As you wish, but may I ask why?”

“It’s classified.”

“Fair enough,” Niall said as his lips twitched. “I guess I’ll be seeing you around then.”

“Wait, one more thing. No one died in there right? Because of anything we did?”

“No, no one died,” Niall confirmed.

Liam let out a sigh of relief, then held on tighter to Louis and reached into the time plane, finding the exact time particles he needed to move him and Louis forward into time.


	10. Chapter 10

_I see what it's like for day and night  
Never together  
Cause they see things in a different light  
Like us_

Louis woke up in a plush bed with a soft and fluffy comforter. He didn’t want to open his eyes completely for fear of losing the dream and finding himself back in that horrible prison that Niall had taken him.

“Oh good, you’re waking up,” Liam’s voice said.

Louis did open his eyes then, just to try and see the phantom before it faded, but when he adjusted his eyes, Liam stood there, holding a tray of food.

“I tried to feed you some last night, but you’re definitely going to have to eat more to get your energy back up,” Liam said.

He placed the tray on the bed and sat beside it, grabbing an English muffin and spreading some jelly on it.

“Here, let’s start with this,” Liam said.

Liam fed him the English muffin and Louis took a small bite, his jaw sore as he tried to chew it, straining as if it didn’t know how to chew anymore.

“Pretty good right? I made it myself,” Liam said.

“Where am I?”

“A really nice hotel. That is until I find us a really nice home. But for now we’re stuck in a hotel.”

“What happened?” Louis asked, still unsure of this supposed reality.

“I rescued you, and you helped, but then you passed out, so I re-rescued you and got you to safety.”

Liam smiled so bright after his explanation that Louis felt like crying. He remembered the night he had seen that smile in the moonlight, and just as he had expected, seeing it in the daylight, with the sun rays shining through the large balcony window of their hotel room, made Liam’s smile more magnificent than necessary.

“Thank you,” Louis said. Liam probably thought he thanked him for the rescue, but he intended it for the smile.

“Any time,” Liam said.

Then he fed Louis more of the English muffin and managed to get him to drink half a cup of milk, before Liam lay beside him and wrapped his arms around him, cuddling into him.

“This isn’t weird right?” Liam asked him. “You don’t mind this do you?”

“It’s really weird, but no I don’t mind,” Louis said, not wanting Liam to know that his heart raced at the contact.

“Sorry I’m weird.”

“I like it.”

“If I’m sunshine, can I call you moonlight?”

“I don’t recall calling you that.”

“Liar.”

“You can’t take the words of a delusional man seriously.”

“People are honest when they’re delusional.”

“It’s just because of your stupid smile,” Louis said, turning to his side a bit so he could face Liam. He placed his hand on Liam’s waist.

“My stupid smile?”

“Yeah, it’s…nice I guess.”

Liam smiled.

Louis wanted to kill him.

And kiss him.

“Don’t get cocky about it,” Louis said, rolling his eyes.

“Whatever you say, moonlight.”

Louis groaned, but then he focused on Liam’s brown eyes, thinking they were beautiful, but also feeling that they were a bit sadder than he last remembered.

“So what now?” Louis asked him. “What do we do now? We have to hide right?”

“We are hiding.”

“Be serious.”

“Just follow my lead,” Liam said. “And I know you have an issue with this one, but above all, I need you to trust me.”

“Well you’re the Time Keeper and everything, so I guess the least I can do is trust you. Wait, are you like my king or something? Do I have to pay my respects? Oh holy Time Keeper.”

“Shut up,” Liam said, his face turning pink this time.

Louis didn’t question his actions then. He leaned in to place his lips on Liam’s, but Liam pulled back before they made contact, and Louis looked at him confused.

“Sorry,” Liam said, before Louis could. “I just. We just. I want to. I do. I’ve been wanting to.”

Louis raised an eyebrow, and let him continue.

“But, we both have been through a lot these past several days, and we have so much to figure out. And right now, what I think we both need most is a friend. Right?”

Louis nodded, disappointment hurting his heart, but he knew Liam made sense.

“Yeah, of course,” Louis said. “No, you’re totally right. Besides, I’ve never really been a relationship kind of guy.”

“Yeah, me either,” Liam said, but even Louis could tell that, much like himself, Liam had to convince himself of that.

“Hey, if anyone has time to make it happen, it’s us right?” Louis said, smiling at Liam, but Liam didn’t smile back.

Instead, Liam cuddled into him more and held him tighter, and Louis figured that a lot had to be running through his mind. So he didn’t ask him for an explanation. Instead, he held him as tight as he possibly could as he drifted off into a warm and peaceful sleep.


	11. EPILOGUE

_They never tried  
Like us_

Harry could get used to living in the tropics. The white sandy beach and bright blue water took him away from the things he didn’t want to think about, and for a moment he considered setting up a shack and taking up crabbing as a livelihood.

Unfortunately, his mission made it impossible for him to stay in any place for too long.

He pushed himself up from his beach chair and walked through the sand back to the seaside bar, needing a refill of his piña colada.

“That was quick,” said the pretty doe-eyed brunette, with a red bow in her hair, who stood behind the bar.

“I’m a thirsty guy,” Harry told her with a smile.

“Alright, I’ll hook you up then. Don’t want anyone dying of thirst on my watch.”

He watched her as she filled the blender, smiling as she sang along to the soca song playing through the speakers.

“What’s your name?” Harry asked her when she gave him his drink.

“Jade. What’s yours?”

“Harry.”

“Nice to formally meet you, Harry,” she said with a grin, “Especially since you’ve been lurking by this bar for the past couple of days.”

“I was too shy to say hi,” he teased her.

“Oh I’m sure,” she said rolling her eyes.

“Actually, I was following some leads, trying to find someone.”

“Oh yeah? Who were you trying to find?” Jade played along.

“Someone that’s hiding, and I can help them,” Harry said, and he watched Jade’s grin turn into a concerned look.

“You should probably go,” she said.

“I’m here on behalf of the Time Keeper,” Harry told her, and he slipped her his card that he had spent a lot of time designing. To say he felt pride in how it had turned out, was an understatement. Even Liam had complimented him when he had seen the finished product, and a compliment from a good artist meant it had to look pretty alright.

“I don’t want that,” Jade said, taking a step back.

“I understand,” Harry nodded, leaving it on the bar for her. “I know what you’re going through. The only person that’s going to be able to help you is the Time Keeper. If you start to sense that you’re not safe anymore, call that number. We’ll get you to safety.”

“Is this some sort of Department joke?” Jade asked. “Are you one of their henchmen?”

“Not even close,” Harry said, taking a sip of his piña colada and leaving her a tip. “I’m just a baker.”

Harry walked back to the ocean’s edge and took in the beautiful sight before him. He took out his phone and texted Jade’s name and current location to Liam and Louis, then focused on finishing his drink in peace. Tomorrow he’d be leaving for a colder climate. One down, seventeen more to go.


End file.
